Canadian retail FX company OANDA has announced an increase in the upper limit for the funding of fxTrade accounts for its European clients. Effective October 1, 2014, the maximum limit grows twofold from 5,000 home currency units to 10,000 home currency units.
The broker has stated that the change reflects its aim to align funding requirements for its clients across the globe. Indeed, up until now OANDA Europe’s clients have been restricted more than any other clients of the broker in terms of deposit limits. In the United States, Canada and Australia, the limit for deposits has been 10,000 home currency units.
Some other motives for the increase are perhaps apparent, among them the perspective that a bigger deposit enhances trading opportunities, especially with an eye on the conservative leverage policy that OANDA follows. In Europe, the broker limits maximum leverage for trading major currency pairs and popular crosses, as well as Gold (XAU/USD) and Silver (XAG/USD) to 50:1. The maximum leverage for exotics, as well as Platinum and Palladium is at 20:1. Hence the need for bigger sum invested by the trader in order to make use of a wider variety of trading opportunities.
In addition, a larger deposit would be helpful for traders who wish to open a sub-account for the fxTrade platform and make use of copying signals via OANDA Trade Leaders Program (OTLP). The latter does not offer demo accounts and can be used only with a live fxTrade account. Moreover, to use OTLP one needs to make a substantial investment – in Europe the recommended minimum is EUR 2,000. Therefore, the need of a higher funding limit is obviously necessary.
Meanwhile OANDA has kept updating its proprietary fxTrade platform, with the latest improvement concerning the transactions history panel and offering extra precision in this respect.
The official announcement by OANDA on the funding limits can be viewed here